Confounding Light (EU2012)

Contents

Description

Confounding Light is an Council mission. This mission will be available sometime after the player completes the mission Friends In Low Places. Like all Council Missions, the mission is initiated by the player being contacted by The Council.

Mission Objectives:

You have 10 turns to complete the mission

Place navigation transponders throughout the train.

Activate the trains drive system from the control room.

Start

Tactics

This mission takes place inside a unique Chinese train station map complete with a high speed commuter train. The squad starts out in the corner of the map nearest the train's back end. Located inside each of the train's four cars is a location where a transponder must be placed.

The alien forces in encountered in this mission consist primarily of Thin Men who are present on the map at the start of the mission. Additionally Mutons are air-launched from the battleship (on a beam of light, possibly referencing the 1994 game's intro movie) as the mission progresses, particularly after placing a transponder. Like airdropped Thin Men, the Mutons will go into Overwatch when they land.

To complete the mission, all that is required is to place the 4 transmitters, and get 1 soldier into the conductor's cabin at the front of the train: aliens can still be on screen, and will disappear once a soldier is in the highlighted area. You can take advantage of this by having your trooper with the highest move be ready to make a dash for it before placing the last transmitter.

This mission presents a unique challenge in that it has a finite time limit of 10 turns; activating transponders does not extend the time limit like deactivating power nodes do in Bomb Disposal missions. The player must take care to advance quickly enough to place all four transponders and reach the train drive console within this time limit.

As you can have Mutons appearing as early as in the first half of second month, capturing/interrogating one can thus get you an early lead on Plasma Weapons research.

Also note that, at the low level you may be at, it makes it VERY likely you'll have to deal with panicking soldiers from the Muton's Intimidate ability.

It might not be worth spending time killing aliens: perhaps have a low-value soldier act as the Rear Guard, using Overwatch or Hunkering Down and keeping the pursuing aliens busy, while the rest of your team makes forward progress.

The following mission, Gangplank, can appear as soon as a few days after the successful completion of this one. As this is the most likely (guaranteed) of the 3 DLC missions to severely injure your soldiers, plan accordingly on who to send for which mission.

Transponders can, as with Meld containers and bombs, be interacted with only from any of the four squares directly adjacent and not on a diagonal. This means they can be activated from the outside of the train in some places, including one place which gives high cover.

PREPARATION

Note that the instant all four transponders are activated and a soldier steps into the designated area in the front of the train, the mission is over. This means units with the Sprinter, Lightning Reflexes and/or Run & Gun abilities are supremely well suited to this mission.

It may be worth your while to draw the attention of aliens with one or two units while others push forward, meaning a damage-soaking unit may be useful.

An excellent place to camp a Squadsight Sniper is behind the air conditioner unit on the rearmost car's roof: all Mutons will drop in line-of-sight, and the limited cover inside the train means most Thin Men will move in range, as well. During the pre-mission screen you should place the Sniper on the foremost position (3rd from the left) - this will allow him/her to dash and reach this location on the roof on the 1st turn.

Watch their ammo levels, though.

The best advantage you can get is having Squad Size I and II: having more soldiers to give and take damage gets you through the train much faster.

As the Enemy Within DLC moves this mission to May, it will be significantly easier, particularly if you have an armored, poison-immune MEC Trooper taking the lead.

End

Additionally, completing the mission awards the player with the "Bait the Hook" Achievement and the "All Aboard" Achievement if completed with more than 3 turns left on the time.